Success Within Failure
by Sgamer82
Summary: Sports Day is coming to Teitan Elementary and Mitsuhiko's past with the event has left him terrified. Fortunately, Haibara has just some useful advice to offer. Written for Poirot Cafe's Themed Writing Contest #27: Sports (ONE-SHOT)


**_Detective Conan_**  
 _Success Within Failure_  
By sgamer82

Sports Day, known more formally as _Undokai_ , was coming to Teitan Elementary, and Class 1-B was feeling very good about their chances of winning, thanks to their two aces.

Genta Kojima was the biggest kid in class, coming in at almost as high as a second or even third grader. Everyone knew that he would be unbeatable in any contest of strength. He had been training hard for this day, as well. It wasn't often he was praised like he should be for his power. Mostly it was adults getting uppity about baseballs or even soccer balls hitting their walls or windows. Their _upstairs_ walls and windows. Genta was lapping up the adulation while he could.

"That's right everyone!" Genta proclaimed. "You can count on me!"

Conan Edogawa, class 1-B's second ace, was also looking forward to competing. Despite being the shortest boy in their class, Conan was easily its best athlete. He was nowhere near as strong as Genta, but he could run rings around anyone on a soccer field. He was sharp witted, as well, which everyone hoped would serve the class in games like the scavenger hunt. For the boy that had previously been Shinichi Kudo himself, it was a chance to be free of the need to be constantly mindful of showing off his mental prowess too much. Sports Day provided a chance to show off without having to fear looking out of place, since he wasn't particularly stronger or weaker than the other children.

"I don't even have to worry about Ran," he told Ai Haibara privately. "She has practice for her own Sports Day at the same time, and even if Kogoro felt some obligation to show up, he's busy investigating an affair."

Ayumi Yoshida, ever the cheerful one, had taken the initiative in motivating everybody. She went around with their teacher making sure everyone was selected for an event that suited them. She took special care to help the less athletic kids figure out what they wanted to try or, in the case of a couple who were afraid they'd make the rest lose, make sure they were teamed up with Genta or Conan.

"There's no way Genta-kun and Conan-kun will lose!" Ayumi assured them. "So you can have fun without worrying!"

When pressed, even the usually stoic Ai Haibara had confessed interest in participating. This had surprised Conan, since Haibara fell on the low end of athletic. When Haibara went by the name Shiho Miyano, the extent of her exercise regimen consisted of time in the gym to maintain her health and figure. For her, participating was more of a novelty.

"It will be something new," she said to surprised Conan. "Onee-chan told me about hers but I never took part in a Sports Day myself."

"Never?" A shocked voice asked. Conan and Haibara turned around to see Ayumi and Genta standing behind them, eyes wide.

"Not even in preschool, Haibara?" Genta asked.

"Uh..." Conan stammered, trying to think of an answer.

"American preschools and kindergartens don't have Sports Days," Haibara told them.

 _At least they didn't when I actually_ was _a preschooler,_ Haibara thought to herself.

"Really?" Genta asked. Then he shrugged. "America's weird."

Ayumi broke into a big smile.

"That gives us an extra reason to make this Sports Day special!" she exclaimed.

Haibara's attempts to tell Ayumi that such trouble was wholly unnecessary went ignored. Instead, Ayumi let Genta get her attention.

"Hey, Ayumi-chan, this could be just what we need for Mitsuhiko," he told her.

"You're right, if he knows this is important to Ai-chan, too-" Ayumi's expression fell. She shook her head. "No, we can't. That'd only put even more pressure on Mitsuhiko-kun. We shouldn't do that."

Conan and Haibara looked at each other for a moment before both shrugged.

While the majority of class 1-B were eager for Sports Day for one reason or another, Mitsuhiko Tsubaraya had been in an obvious depression. He did not volunteer for any events on his own, was silent during meetings to plan their class's part, and overall did not participate at all if he could wiggle out of it. It was a rare sight to see Sumiko Kobayashi scolding Mitsuhiko for not participating in a class activity. Yet that had been happening repeatedly since Kobayashi had announced the Sports Day's imminent arrival.

"Why has Mitsuhiko been so depressed about this?" Conan asked.

"Tsubaraya-kun's hardly unathletic," Haibara noted. "He's never seemed to have trouble at anything we've done before. I can not imagine he is worried about performing badly."

"So then it's something about Sports Day in particular," Conan suggested.

Ayumi and Genta didn't answer immediately. In fact, Ayumi wrung her hands in a sign of obvious reluctance.

"Should we?" she asked Genta.

"I don't see why not," Genta said.

"You're right." Ayumi nodded and took a deep breath. "The thing is... the thing is Sports Day has been a problem for Mitsuhiko-kun ever since we were in preschool. Our very first year doing one, Mitsuhiko-kun was so nervous about running a race that he drank two whole bottles of water all by himself just before."

Conan and Haibara tried not to wince. First year of preschool would mean that water guzzling Mitsuhiko would have been three or four years old.

"I think we can see where this is going..." Conan said.

"Not that..." Genta said. "Well, actually, yes that, but not really..."

Conan raised an eyebrow.

"Race time came and Mitsuhiko had to go. Like, really bad," Genta said, taking up the tale.

Conan and Haibara nodded.

"When the race started, he ran faster than I'd ever seen him go."

"He got first place," Ayumi said. "Then ran straight for the door to go inside so he could go potty."

"I still say he'd have made it if he hadn't stopped to change his shoes," Genta remarked. "That was the first year. Next year, Mitsuhiko choked."

"You mean he froze?" Conan asked.

"No, he choked," Genta repeated.

"On a fly," Ayumi clarified. "It flew into his mouth during the scavenger hunt."

Conan and Haibara blinked.

"The card he drew was 'insect', so the teachers let him count it," Genta said.

"We think it was actually supposed to refer to the ladybug rocker on the playground," Ayumi offered.

Conan and Haibara looked at each other as they began to detect the pattern. Conan jerked his head toward Ayumi and Genta. Haibara did the same, only more firmly. Conan repeated the gesture more emphatically.

"Oh, fine," Haibara said. "One of us has to ask, anyway." She turned to the others. "What happened to Tsubaraya-kun last year?"

"He broke an arm," Genta replied.

"He broke his arm?" Conan blurted out.

"Not _his_ arm," Ayumi told him. "The teacher's arm. During the ball rolling."

Conan and Haibara were now properly agape.

"She was standing too far in Mitsuhiko's lane," Genta said. "He bowled right though her and sent her falling to the ground."

"Mitsuhiko-kun was so determined to do good he didn't notice what happened," Ayumi said.

"Don't tell me..." Conan muttered.

"Everyone else stopped to help Sensei, so Mitsuhiko-kun crossed the finish line first way ahead of everyone."

"I thought it'd be something like that..." Conan said. "I don't think of ever heard of anyone so... so..."

"Victoriously accident prone?" Haibara offered.

"And that's why Mitsuhiko's been so down?" Conan asked. Genta and Ayumi nodded.

"He's scared of embarrassing himself or hurting someone," Ayumi said.

"Does Kobayashi-sensei know about this?" Haibara asked. The others nodded.

"We told her when we realized Mitsuhiko was getting in trouble over it," Genta said.

"She was real nice about it," Ayumi said. "But she said Mitsuhiko-kun still has to be in events."

"I suppose she's right about that," Haibara nodded. "I don't see how much can be done, short of Tsubaraya-kun playing sick on the day itself."

"In that case," Conan said, "All we can really do is keep his spirits up and work out which event has the least chance of a problem."

Everyone agreed. Yet, even as they did, one of them was having the beginnings of an idea that might help their friend.

* * *

Mitsuhiko Tsubaraya tried not to be miserable. He really did. In the face of Sports Day, however, it was impossible. He managed to greet Ayumi cheerfully, as much due to her own infectious optimism rather than anything Mitsuhiko himself did. He laughed with Genta and Haibara at Conan's shocked reaction when he discovered that his mother, a plump woman named Fumiyo, had come to watch him. Yet through it all there had been a quiver in his voice. A nervous flinch when anyone in a white or red hat approached him.

Now he sat huddled by himself in a shady spot under a tree, trying hard to keep the nagging worry of what disaster would befall him this year from making him cry.

He was currently failing.

"Tsubaraya-kun?"

Mitsuhiko recognized that voice and immediately turned his back to it as he rubbed his hands over his eyes.

"H-hello, Haibara-san," Mitsuhiko managed.

"Sensei was wondering where you went," Ai Haibara's voice said from behind him. "We'll be starting events soon."

"All right," Mitsuhiko said. "I-I'll be there right away."

There was no sound for a moment. Not even the sound of Haibara running back to their teacher.

"Tsubaraya-kun, are you going to be all right?" Haibara asked.

"O-of course!" Mitsuhiko said, his back still to Haibara. "Why... why wouldn't I be?"

"Well..." Haibara began with unusual hesitation, "Yoshida-san and Kojima-kun told Edogawa-kun and I about... your past experience."

Mitsuhiko tried not to think of Ayumi and Genta as traitors. He really did. From his huddled position, Mitsuhiko buried his face into his legs.

"I tried to ask my parents to let me skip," Mitsuhiko said, his voice muffled. In fact, he'd begged and pleaded on hands and knees. "Onee-chan tried to help, but my father said it was all in my head and my mother said I would never get past it by avoiding it but... but Haibara-san, I'm cursed! It's the only thing that makes sense. I broke Sensei's arm last year! What if something worse happens this year! What if-"

Mitsuhiko suddenly felt something push his head up. He opened eyes he hadn't realized he has closed and found himself face to face with Haibara. He tried to bury his face in his legs again it otherwise turn away but Haibara kept her hand firmly on his forehead, preventing him from moving it.

"It's worse than anyone thought," Haibara remarked to no one in particular. "Your parents are right, Tsubaraya-kun. You need to face this. Fortunately, I know a way to help."

The hand in Mitsuhiko's head moved, quickly snatching the red hat on his head. Haibara's other hand pulled the hat off her own head and placed it on Mitsuhiko's.

"Is this supposed to be a good luck charm?" Mitsuhiko asked skeptically. "That's just superstition."

"Says the boy who's cursed." Haibara smirked as she put Mitsuhiko's hat on her head.

"That's verifiable!" Mitsuhiko insisted. "It's happened three times in a row and three makes a pattern!"

"Then it's a good thing that what I have in mind is also a verifiable phenomenon," Ai said. "Tell me, Tsubaraya-kun, have you ever heard of the 'Placebo Effect'?"

Mitsuhiko shook his head. Haibara grinned.

"Perfect. I promise you, hang on to my hat, let the Placebo Effect do the rest, and you will not suffer any disasters like you did before."

"Do... Do you really mean that, Haibara-san?" Mitsuhiko asked hopefully.

"Have you ever known me to lie about something important?"

Mitsuhiko shook his head.

"Then get out there, and prove I'm not a liar," Haibara told him.

Mitsuhiko, feeling more motivated then he'd ever been, got to his feet and made his way to the rest of 1-B.

* * *

As Sports Day commenced, everything went about as expected. In tug of war, ball rolling, and anything else that needed strength, Genta shined bright. Races and the scavenger hunt were Conan's territory. Even in the relay race, teamed with one of their class's weaker runners, he easily made back any losses they happened to have.

While neither stood out as much as the two boys had, both Haibara and Ayumi did their part and helped win a their own events.

Then there was Mitsuhiko.

Between Ayumi and Genta and, though the children did not know it, Mitsuhiko's family, Sumiko Kobayashi had gotten a good idea of why the normally eager Mitsuhiko had so much trouble with Sports Day. She was sympathetic, but that didn't mean she could let Mitsuhiko off the hook for participating. Putting aside that it would be unfair to the children who were involved despite any anxieties on their part, Kobayashi felt, and Mitsuhiko's parents had agreed, that he needed to compete to get past this.

Kobayashi had, however, compromised by limiting Mitsuhiko's participation to as few events as possible. Mitsuhiko's parents had allowed that, and Mitsuhiko himself had seemed to realize it was the best he could hope for. She had thought carefully about what events to put Mitsuhiko into. Kobayashi had to pick events she was reasonably sure couldn't result in some improbable disaster. Given that Mitsuhiko had once choked in a scavenger hunt, that was no small feat.

As she watched now, Kobayashi saw that Mitsuhiko seemed far less nervous than when had been ever since she had sent Ai Haibara to go get him. She looked at Ai to see her adjusting the fit of her cap as everyone gathered for the bean bag throw.

While all the kids gathered in a circle and excitedly threw bean bags trying to get into the baskets set up in the center, Mitsuhiko had started out hesitant. Kobayashi watched as he missed each and every single throw he made. Some went low, some went wide, one went completely over the baskets and landed at the feet of a girl opposite Mitsuhiko on the circle. The closest to a basket he made was a bean bag he had thrown bounced off the rim of a basket which ultimately fell outside of it. Kobayashi had watched as Mitsuhiko's hat, which seemed a bit loose on his head now that she looked closely, had fallen over his face causing him to stumble and throw blindly when he made that near miss.

Mitsuhiko stood there for a few seconds, his eyes fixated on the bean bag he had just thrown. Kobayashi could only wonder what was going through his mind then. Just before another teacher noticed and began to call out to Mitsuhiko, the boy grabbed another red bean bag and threw much more energetically. It missed the basket completely, as did every other bag he threw until time ran out.

* * *

Later that day, as he walked home with his family, Mitsuhiko was still stunned.

Sports Day had come and gone and _nothing_ bad had happened. Nothing bad unless one counted the fact that Mitsuhiko didn't win a single event he had participated in. Mitsuhiko himself did _not_ count that. What was a little failure compared to escaping the dreaded Sports Day unscathed?

The closest Mitsuhiko had come was when he nearly fell at the bean bag throw. After that, everything else he participated in, the bread eating race, the inter-grade relay had gone without incident and without success. It had been great!

Haibara's hat was in his backpack. In all the excitement of getting though the day Mitsuhiko had forgotten to return it to her after they had changed out of their P.E. clothes. Mitsuhiko also realized he had forgotten to ask Haibara about the Placebo Effect she had mentioned to him.

Even though he wasn't supposed to do it while he walked, Mitsuhiko pulled out his phone and opened up the browser.

 _Pu... Ra... Shi... Bo..._ Mitsuhiko used katakana in the search on the assumption that "placebo" was not a Japanese word. Once he did, he opened a page that looked promising and found the exact definition of the Placebo Effect.

 _No way..._

He read it twice to be sure he understood correctly. There was no doubt he was right about the meaning. It certainly explained what Haibara meant when she had said it was perfect he did not already know what it was.

He was so intent on his phone he did not notice the shadow looming over him.

"Micchan?" Mitsuhiko heard a voice ask. Mitsuhiko looked up and saw his sister looking down at him. He quickly put his phone back in his pocket. Asami didn't say anything about it.

"Are you all right?" she asked instead.

"Yes, I am," Mitsuhiko replied. "I... I was just thinking that father and mother were right."

Asami tilted her head at him. Mitsuhiko smiled.

"All that stuff about being cursed on Sports Day... it really was just in my head after all."

Asami didn't quite follow, but she shrugged. As long as Mitsuhiko was happy she did not feel any pressing need to question it.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** The idea for this story is partly due to one of my favorite quotes in the _Harry Potter_ series. to paraphrase: "Of course this is all in your head, Harry. But why on Earth should that mean it isn't real?" The title actually plays off a long-ago, still occasionally kicking around _Pokemon_ fanfic idea in which my OC trainer faces an opponent who believes winning is everything.


End file.
